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Darren Sharper denied bond, will remain jailed

Former Saints safety Darren Sharper listens to attorneys argue on his behalf during a March 13 hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. Sharper has been jailed in Los Angeles since Feb. 27 and is accused of drugging and raping at least nine women in five states. (Nick Ut, Associated Press)

PHOENIX (AP) -- Former New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper lost his bid Thursday to be released
on bail in a sexual assault case after an Arizona judge found there's
enough evidence to move forward with charges against him in that state.

Sharper's
lawyers had questioned the evidence authorities are using to justify
keeping him in jail in California, where he faces separate charges that
he drugged and raped two women in October after meeting them at a West
Hollywood nightclub.

A California judge had set Sharper's bail at
$1 million but ruled in March that Sharper should remain in jail without
bail after the Super Bowl champion was indicted in Arizona on charges
that he drugged and sexually assaulted two women in November.

His lawyers had hoped to win a favorable ruling from the Arizona judge to persuade the California judge to set him free on bail.

But
after two days of arguments in Phoenix, Maricopa County Superior Court
Judge Warren Granville found there is sufficient evidence to pursue the
Arizona case against Sharper. The Arizona Constitution automatically
denies bail to people charged with sexual assault if the proof against
them is evident or the presumption of guilt is great.

The move was
the latest development in several ongoing sexual assault investigations
involving Sharper in Louisiana, California, Florida, Arizona and
Nevada.

The indictment filed last month in Arizona alleges that
Sharper gave the sedative zolpidem to three women and then had "sexual
intercourse or oral sexual contact" with two of them without their
consent on Nov. 21 at an apartment in Tempe. The drug is commonly sold
under the brand name Ambien.

Sharper has not yet entered a plea in
the case, although one of his attorneys has said Sharper will deny
those allegations. He has pleaded not guilty in the California case.

Earlier
this month, Granville denied a request from Sharper's attorneys to set
bail, ruling that he didn't have jurisdiction until the former player
was in Arizona. But Sharper's attorneys argued that the former player
was entitled to a hearing to determine whether Arizona prosecutors have
enough evidence to deny him bail.

On Wednesday, Tempe police
detective Kevin Mace said Sharper's DNA was recovered from the clothing
of one of the two sexual assault victims in Arizona, but none of his DNA
was found during an exam of the other woman.

The detective also
said a police search of the apartment turned up a shot glass with a
white residue that turned out to be zolpidem, and California
investigators discovered that Sharper had a prescription for the drug.

On
Thursday, Sharper's attorneys said their client did not make the drinks
that authorities say he used to drug the women, and that neither woman
suffered physical injuries.

Prosecutors pointed out that sexual
assault victims sometimes don't suffer physical injuries, and that both
women were assaulted while unconscious after being drugged.